Merry Christmas, friends! Hope you have a wonderful time celebrating the holiday ❤🎄
Here are this week’s questions:
Chapter 7: And Our Eyes at Last Shall See Him
*The Holy Spirit plays a major role again in the story of Simeon at the temple meeting the Messiah. How might you give more space for the Holy Spirit to move in your life in the new year? What would you look forward to in giving more control to the Spirit’s leading?
*As new parents, Mary and Joseph were surely protective over their newborn baby. What would have caused them to allow Simeon – a stranger – to hold their baby? Have there been times in your life where you felt an immediate spiritual connection with someone?
*Mary received news that was likely difficult for her to hear. In your opinion, would it be easier or harder to have heard the prophecy “A sword will pierce your own heart”? How might knowing this have prepared Mary’s heart? How might it have cast a sadness on her time with Jesus?
Chapter 8: Joy of Every Longing Heart
*Anna devoted all of her time to the Lord by living in the temple. What is your opinion of Anna? Does her devoutness towards the Lord seem a bit fanatical or inspirational? How might you devote more time to the Lord?
*Anna was a widow and must have experienced great loneliness. She turned to the Lord rather than to other things or people in this season of loneliness. Where do you turn during times of loneliness in your life? How can you turn those times into time with God?
*Which woman of the three – Elizabeth, Mary, or Anna – has stood out to you the most? What can you take from their example into the new year?
Scripture of the Week
Luke 2:21-40
Matthew 2:1-12
Prayer of the Week
Father God, thank You for the miraculous event of Christmas. It was Your plan to redeem us that set it all in motion. It wasn’t anything that we did; it was all because of Your mercy. Thank You. Help us to follow the examples of Elizabeth, Mary, Anna devoting ourselves to You in faith and love and obedience. We praise You for Your lovingkindness that is better than life. Would You help us to go into this Christmas and into the new year with a heart that is focused on You and a will that bends to Yours? We love You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen
For Next Month
*Check out THIS POST for all the details on next month’s book club! Hope you will read with me in the new year!
Making space for the Holy Spirit requires attention and intention. Lately I’ve been thinking about how the Lord always has time for me. At Christmas in particular, we acknowledge how God made time for us by sending Jesus to be with us. Simeon anticipated Jesus’ coming; “he was waiting for the consolation of Israel.” (Luke 2:25)
But do I give Him my time? Not just the “check the box off” kind – is it a focused, committed space? Usually not.
Wrapped up in the answer as to why we don’t give God time is perhaps the simple truth that we don’t see Him as our consolation, our comfort. We’re too dressed up in our idea of success or status, too enticed by the number of social media followers we have or think we need, too competitive in every area of our lives to recognize the need to slow down and value communion. Or maybe we’ve grown so tired of the constant struggles and become discouraged to the point of questioning whether comfort actually exists. If we don’t think it can exist, then we’re not as apt to search it out.
The Scriptures tell us the Holy Spirit is our Comforter. However, as the author says, “[o]nly when we’re filled with the Holy Spirit can we see what matters to God.” (Page 158) Anyone who accepts Christ has the Holy Spirit – letting the Holy Spirit work in and through us though is not something that God will force onto us. We must be willing to allow Him to fill us with the Holy Spirit’s power. If we’re filled with something else, there’s no room for Him.
The word “occupy” keeps coming to mind as this new year approaches. I think the Holy Spirit is trying to remind me of the importance of His involvement in my life, all areas. Since the body is the temple, He is essentially “camping out” there…am I letting Him stake a claim? I’m already His, but am I letting Him exert His power? Do I even want Him ruling over me? This wrestling, I believe, truly exemplifies the struggle between the flesh and the spirit!
I want to be devoted to God like Elizabeth, Mary, and Anna. They weren’t special or had all the answers, and yet God used them to reveal His power and glory. They didn’t know how their stories would all play out, yet they kept their eyes on Him.
It’s an intriguing thought that “the eyes of the Lord roam throughout the earth to show Himself strong for those who are wholeheartedly devoted to Him.” (2 Chronicles 16:9)
God knows us, sees us, and still seeks us out. He beckons us to come to Him. But He didn’t wait for us to make the first move. Christmas provides an opportunity for us to remember God coming down to our broken, human world, making a way for us to be reconciled with Him. We can be made right in Christ. We can be a vessel in God’s story. May we allow Him to use us for His glory.
This Christmas I really have had that singular thought that God made the first move. It was all Him; it wasn’t anything that I did or could have done. If He hadn’t decided to make the way there wouldn’t be any way for us. It wouldn’t matter how great we acted or how much good we did. There wasn’t this expectation on His end that since He made this way we would all immediately line up and follow it. He knew that with free will some of us wouldn’t follow. And all of us would break His heart over and over again. Yet, He still chose to send Jesus. Still chose to redeem us – every one of us who will hear His call and come to Him.
I frustrate myself because I still expect Him to do more than this! Ugh! I put so many expectations on God and am so much harsher towards Him than He is to me. I worry about my own comfort and yet He sent the Comforter to me!
I am tired of living a “check the box off” kind of relationship with Him. I think I just worry about what a sold out faith will look like – what will it entail? Hardship? Maybe. And yet Romans tells us there’s nothing that can separate us from the love of God. That’s what I should focus on. We can’t live the life He wants us to live without surrendering. Mary, Elizabeth, and Anna all lived lives of surrender. They weren’t caught up in how they looked, how comfortable their lives were or what God might ask of them; they just said yes. Wow!